Visions of light: New reconstruction techniques of photometric data and visual perception inside Etruscan painted tombs.

This study utilises reconstruction technologies together with material and experimental photometric data to investigate how light intersects with perceptual processes inside subterranean painted tombs in Tarquinia, Italy. A fifth century BCE tomb, the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri located in the Necropoli dei Monterozzi in Tarquinia, Italy is used to illustrate the usefulness of the methodology. Patterns involving the organisation of tomb imagery together with an analysis of specific lighting conditions in a scaled 3D space reframes tomb paintings in a manner that further recognises the performance of burial rites and other funerary activities from the perspective of human cognition. The methodology has applicability across archaeological settings and regions, particularly with respect to settings where little or no natural lighting is present. • In depth understanding of levels of illumination inside the subterranean Etruscan painted tomb. • Use of reconstruction technologies and photometric data to investigate how light intersects with perceptual processes. • New methodology with applicability across archaeological contexts and regions where little or no natural lighting is present. • First assessment of an Etruscan setting using photometric data and exploratory technologies to clarify burial ritual. • Consideration of Etruscan burial rites and other funerary activities from the perspective of human cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]